One of my close friends and regular taste tester for my cooking adventures had his greek Mum staying over in the UK.
I offered to cook and then got down to the decision of what to cook. This was the perfect opportunity to have a crack at one of those dishes on my 'must cook someday' list, Kleftico. A classic Greek lamb dish.

Having served it there was an eyebrow raised about the colour but compliments on the smell. This had me worried until I mentioned that it was cooked with lemon. 'Oh it's a white Kelftico, then that's all good, I thought you were making a red one'. So with some relief we cracked on and I can say that it passed the 'Mum' test. However, I have now added red Kleftico to the must cook list.
Cooked with lemon, it's a white, cooked with tomatoes its a red.

This version is a very rich, garlic heavy, simple one pot dish which you can put together 6 hours before it's needed and served with some simple sides or just some nice bread. Or both! It was adapted from one of my favourite books, stewed, a great addition to any cookbook library.

Step 1 - Prep the lamb

Pre-heat your oven to 150C
Trim as much fat as you can off the lamb, reserving some
Heat a heavy lidded pot
Melt some of the fat with some olive oil
Brown off the lamb in batches then set aside
Whilst the lamb is browning, peel and half the cloves from 2 bulbs of garlic.
Give each clove a bash with the flat of your knife for some quick peel action
Once each piece of lamb has cooled enough to handle, cut many holes and stuff with the garlic

Step 2 - The veg

Slice your waxy potatoes, cut the larger ones into quarters and smaller ones in half
Peel the onions then slice in half and quarters
Put all the veg in a large bowl

Step 3 - The marinade

In another bowl, grate the zest from the lemons
Half and squeeze the juice into the bowl, catching any pips
Pour in the extra virgin olive oil
Add the dried oregano
About 15-20 twists of the pepper mill
Finally, add three good pinches of sea salt
Mix it all up

Step 4 - Bring it all together

Wipe the dish used to brown the lamb with some kitchen paper
Rub the lamb all over with the marinade and put into the pot
Add the remainder of the rub to the potatoes and onions and mix up ensuring everything is well covered
Put the covered onions and spuds into the pot with the lamb
Any garlic left over from step 1 throw this in the pot as well, giving it one final mix
Cover with some parchment, pressing down and tucking it in at the sides
Add two layers of tin foil to the top, put the lid on and tucking it tight to make a seal
Once done, put it in the oven for 5 hours but here's the hardest part, don't be tempted to look, just leave it

Step 5 - Finale

After its ready, pull off the tin foil and paper
With the lid slightly ajar, pour off the juices into a glass heat proof bowl.
Be careful as steam will come out the other side
Skim off as much fat from the bowl as you can (I put the fat in a jam jar, keep in the fridge and use it for fried eggs!)
Carefully find and remove the bones from the meat, they should pull out clean
Add the juices back to the pot and stir which will start to break up the lamb
Serve on a platter surrounded by some lightly toasted bread, give it a healthy covering of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with freshly chopped flat leaf parsley

I served this with some garlic greens, a tomato salad and some salty charred peppers.

Kleftico Lemonato

Whole shoulder of lamb cut into 6 pieces, roughly 6kg (get your butcher to do this)
Olive oil (for browning)
500g waxy small potatoes
4 large onions (red or white)